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Astronomy Picture of the Day: M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
NASA ^ | 25nFeb, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

Posted on 02/25/2025 1:19:36 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: Why are there so many bright blue stars? Stars are usually born in clusters, and the brightest and most massive of these stars typically glow blue. Less-bright, non-blue stars like our Sun surely also exist in this M41 star cluster but are harder to see. A few bright orange-appearing red giant stars are visible. The red-light filaments are emitted by diffuse hydrogen gas, a color that was specifically filtered and enhanced in this image. In a hundred million years or so, the bright blue stars will have exploded in supernovas and disappeared, while the slightly different trajectories of the fainter stars will cause this picturesque open cluster to disperse. Similarly, billions of years ago, our own Sun was likely born into a star cluster like M41, but it has long since drifted apart from its sister stars. The featured image was captured over four hours with Chilescope T2 in Chile.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; m41; messier41; nasa; science
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 02/25/2025 1:19:36 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 02/25/2025 1:19:59 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 02/25/2025 1:20:56 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Beautiful


4 posted on 02/25/2025 1:22:27 PM PST by mitch5501 ("make your calling and election sure:for if ye do these things ye shall never fall")
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To: MtnClimber

Every dot you see is a STAR.

It is just a small section of the entire Universe, not even a significant fraction of a percent.

Imagine all the worlds that are out there in just this one picture.............


5 posted on 02/25/2025 1:22:36 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: MtnClimber

Not many obvious double- or triple- stars in this cluster.


6 posted on 02/25/2025 1:41:10 PM PST by FroggyTheGremlim (Hail to Pitt!)
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To: MtnClimber

I could happily spend eons (or aeons, in Brit-speak) exploring regions like that.


7 posted on 02/25/2025 1:51:47 PM PST by AFB-XYZ ( )
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To: FroggyTheGremlim

There are a few pairs which look close together but that could just mean they are in the same line of sight. Some double stars have one which is much brighter than the other (like Sirius and its white dwarf companion, the Pup) so it will look like one star from a distance.


8 posted on 02/25/2025 2:08:14 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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